The past several weeks have been overwhelmingly positive for the crypto markets, with Bitcoin finding its footing in the lower-$5,000 region and many altcoins putting a significant amount of distance between their current prices and their 2018 lows. Despite this, Ripple (XRP) has been one of the few cryptos that has not incurred any massive gains, much to the chagrin of its investors.

One possible factor behind Ripple’s less-than-positive price action over the past several weeks could be the release of JPMorgan’s cryptocurrency – aptly names JPM Coin – which is widely viewed as being a competitor to XRP.

Although XRP’s recent price action hasn’t been bullish per say, it hasn’t necessarily been bearish either, as it has simply been trading flat around its current price levels.

At the time of writing, Ripple is trading up 1.2% at its current price of $0.324, up slightly from its daily lows of $0.319. While looking over a seven-day trading period, XRP is down from highs of roughly $0.35, and is just a hair above its weekly lows of $0.318.

This relative stability is not unique to the past seven days, however, as XRP has been caught in a bout of sideways trading since the beginning of the year.

While looking at Ripple’s year-to-date price action, it has been ranging between highs of $0.38 and lows of $0.28, with strong resistance at the former price level, and strong support at the latter.

Harry, a popular cryptocurrency trader on Twitter who focuses primarily on XRP, recently noted that XRP is in what he calls an “accumulation” phase, and breakouts of the persisting range may not be seen until the third or fourth quarter of this year.

“$XRP is in accumulation for an Adam & Eve double bottom, big breakout / continuation starts around $0.63c usdt. April mark’s the eve centre, breakouts likely as far out as Q3, Q4,” Harry said in a recent tweet.

$XRP is in accumulation for an Adam & Eve double bottom, big breakout / continuation starts around $0.63c usdt. April mark’s the eve centre, breakouts likely as far out as Q3, Q4. $BTC has resistance over resistance from a technical perspective regardless of BARR bump/ run x https://t.co/7InP5ERFQm

Could JPM Coin Be Negatively Affecting XRP’s Price?

Earlier this year, the world was surprised to discover that JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banks in the world, was releasing a cryptocurrency that is strikingly similar to XRP in some regards.

In a recent tweet, The Crypto Dog, another popular cryptocurrency analyst, asked the Twitter crypto community why a bank would use XRP over JPM Coin, which sparked a heated debate as to whether or not XRP is truly a JPM Coin competitor.

“Not hating on this tweet, just genuinely curious: Why would any bank use a volatile currency like $XRP over a ‘bank approved’ stablecoin like JPM coin?” he asked.

Not hating on this tweet, just genuinely curious:

Why would any bank use a volatile currency like $XRP over a “bank approved” stablecoin like JPM coin?

To this, Harry responded noting that JPM Coin only has value on its own network, and that XRP would be better suited to facilitate cross-network payments.

“JMP [sic] coin likely only has value on its own network, moving money between networks will require something different, maybe interledger, maybe $XRP but let’s assume it will be something without any counterparty,” he explained.

JMP coin likely only has value on its own network, moving money between networks will require something different, maybe interledger, maybe $XRP but let’s assume it will be something without any counterparty x

Although it is unclear as to whether or not JPM Coin has truly put any downwards pressure on Ripple’s price, investors will likely soon discover whether or not XRP has been coiling like a spring over the past several months, ready to surge upwards, or if it has further to fall.